Child Of The Leaf
by operadeglace
Summary: Shinachiku always knew he belonged somewhere other than the pale, desert sands and dusty plains of Suna. In his dreams, he could hear millions of leaves like the sound of great, rushing waters, enrapturing his soul... (chp. 700 compliant. NaruSaku; Shinachiku adoption fic)
1. Chapter One

Child of the Leaf

by operadeglace

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><p>Shinachiku always felt like an outsider.<p>

Something seemed off about his birthplace, his heritage. He felt it deep within him; he belonged somewhere other than pale desert sands and dusty plains.

In his dreams he could smell vast meadows of deep green grass and feel cool gusts of moisture licking at his skin. But, above anything else, was the sound of leaves. They sounded like great, rushing waters that enraptured his very soul.

He loved those leaves more than anything else.

Sadly, there was a scarcity of green things in Sunagakure.

"Suna has its own beauty, my son. Sand flows through your veins." His father would always joke when Shinachiku would complain about his dry, arid home.

Speaking of jokes…

His father, Ryoukan, was the most celebrated medic nin in the village of the sand, yet here he was, dying from some unknown, incurable ailment.

"This… this isn't fair, dad." Shinachiku whispers angrily, his fists balled and shaking with frustration on his lap. "You're all I have in this place."

The young blonde boy was right. Ryoukan had no other family than Shinachiku, which meant, Shinachiku had no other family as well. Once his father died, he would be left to the sandy plains to fend for himself.

Of course, he had his team, but they made it known to him, on multiple occasions, that he was more of a hindrance rather than a help.

"Shina-chikushou! What use is your medical ninjutsu if you get hurt so often, you can't use it on anyone but yourself!?"

"You wear the symbol of a ninja, but, you're too weak to ever become a real ninja."

"You're in the way!"

"Don't get too excited. You're only a ninja because of us."

Ryoukan's warm hand on Shinachiku's cheek washes away all thoughts of negativity. He is brought back to the situation at hand with his dying father.

"Son… life will continue to be hard for you." Ryoukan states shakily as he seemingly reads Shina's mind. "Just always remember that I love you. I have faith in you that you will do great things!"

The blonde boy looks at the floor, feeling ashamed as he honestly doubted those things to be true. The frail man speaks again, his hand rising up to grasp the melancholy teen's hand.

"You will do great things, because it is in your blood!" He smiles, then coughs. Shina sees some blood dripping down the corner of his mouth and dabs it away with a wet rag.

"Father…" The boy says cautiously as he wipes the blood from the sickly man's chin, summoning whatever miniscule courage he had left to ask such a question at such a time.

"Who… who was my mother?"

Ryoukan pauses, closing his eyes, smiling as if his mind was picturing some kind of heavenly treasure.

"I… I really never told you who she was, hm?" Ryoukan laughs, his chuckle turning into another blood-filled cough. "What kind of father am I?" He says sadly as he tightens his hold on Shina's hand.

"I suppose you are old enough to know the truth. Please, do not be angered… I was instructed never to tell you."

Shinachiku leans towards him, listening intently.

"Tell me… what?"

What he heard next would change everything…

"I love you son… but, you are not really my son." The old man wheezes like he was holding something back. Shinachiku's emerald eyes widen with horror and disbelief.

"You are a child of the Leaf."

-End of Chapter One

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><p>I hope you like my story. :) NaruSaku lives.<p> 


	2. Chapter Two

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Two

by operadeglace

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><p><em>"You are a child of the Leaf."<em>

After his cryptic statement, Ryoukan had passed away, the life slowly fading from his eyes. Shinachiku could only sit and stare in disbelief.

The silence was deafening to him as he was left with unsolved mysteries and a gaping hole in his heart…

—

There was a rather large memorial service held in the village for Shinachiku's adoptive father of which even the Kazekage and his venerated siblings were in attendance.

The sombre crowd paid their respects, none of them familiar to Shinachiku, as they were far older than he was. Colleagues of his deceased caretaker, no doubt.

His team mates, Ayaka and Magire were there to show their faces, then were gone as soon as there was a shift in the herd of people.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Shinachiku." His chest started to burn as he listened to a voice he didn't think he'd hear, laden with comfort and concern.

"Thank you, Ayaka-chan."

He says softly as he looked up at the one third of his team that he thought had abandoned him. She was a pretty girl with long red hair swept into a high ponytail and deep blue eyes that reminded Shina of a rare, stormy sky over Suna. The blonde boy thought she looked lovely, even when she was wearing her mournful, black clothes.

"I know you're alone now… I envy you." She states blankly.

Shinachiku grits his teeth, biting back a few angry retorts. He knew it was her way of trying to comfort him.

"I mean, you should try living with ten older brothers…"

I would love to have _ANY_ brothers…

Then, Ayaka puts a warm hand on his shoulder and his face grows red at the contact.

"I… I want to… you should know… that I…" Ayaka stammers, Shinachiku's face reddens even more has he watches a blush creep onto her flustered face. He really thought her to be the cutest girl he had ever met.

"Ayaka. Shinachiku."

The two Chuunin turn to see the Kazekage and his elder brother and sister addressing them. They both bow respectfully, Kankuro being the next to speak.

"Beat it, brat! We need to speak to _your_ Shinachiku privately." The painted man teases.

"He is not my anything!" Ayaka growls angrily, slapping his hand away and storms off, leaving Kankuro to chuckle in her absence. Temari steps forward and hands Shina a black, lacquered box with the Sunagakure symbol on the front. Her expression is tender and kind, very unlike the expression she usually wore.

"This was your father's. He left it to you." The red-haired Kazekage speaks, his gaze ever intimidating to Shinachiku. "You will also have no worries about food, money, or housing, as the village will now be providing you with all your needs and wants according to your father's last wishes."

Shinachiku holds the box close to his chest as if stealing a last hug from his beloved "father".

"Your father has been invaluable to our village with his numerous years of dedicated service and friendship. If you have need of anything, please do not hesitate to ask it of me." Gaara bows in respect and turns to leave with his brother and sister at his side.

—-

"Man… I'm sooooo hungry."

An entire week had passed since Ryoukan's funeral and Shinachiku had eaten through all of the items in the pantry.

_"I suppose you are old enough to know the truth. Please, do not be angered… I was instructed never to tell you."_

Who instructed him? Who didn't want him to know the truth? His mother? His biological father?

So many questions swirling within his mind.

_"You are a child of the Leaf."_

What exactly did he mean? Child of the leaf? Was he born in a tree..?

Shinachiku spreads his body haphazardly on the floor, his head falling to the side to look at his father's box of ashes and portrait. His eyes narrowed angrily at the portraiture's caring smile, which in that moment, seemed to be mocking him. The man who knew the answers he was searching for lay in a thousand particles of ash within that little box next to his picture.

_Box…_

_Box..!_

The box his father left him!

He beat his fists on his head and scrambled to his feet, rushing into his room to retrieve the black lacquered box that the Kazekage had given him.

"How could I have forgotten that thing!?" Shina says in pure frustration with himself. He remembered dropping it to the floor and kicking it angrily under his bed before throwing himself onto his bed and weeping for the loss of his only relation in the village.

After a few minutes of shuffling around the messy contents that lay beneath his bed, his fingertips felt and grasped at the smooth faces of the box his father had bequeathed to him. With a slowly, measured breath, he pulled it out and sat it on his lap. His heart was beating as if he had just finished a long foot race as his shaking hands started to take the lid off of the item that could very well be the answer to the questions that plagued him.

_"Knock, knock, knock!"_

He tried to ignore that rapping at his door as he struggled to pull at the lid that was very hard to pull off.

_"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!"_

The knocking grew more urgent.

Shinachiku groans and tucks the box under his arm, walking angrily towards his front door, suspecting that the person on the other side was not going to go away until he attended to them.

"…"

His hand paused at the door handle as the knocking stopped, puzzled as to why the visitor suddenly halted their hounding.

"SHYAAAAAAAA!"

His eyes widen in sudden recognition as a yell is heard from the other side.

"Ayaka-cha-"

His front door is broken down with the blonde boy beneath it, smashed flat to the floor as his team mate jumps onto it aggressively.

"Shinachiku! Where are you?!" She cries out in a desperate voice, sprinting out of the room. "Speak to me!"

From beneath the heavy door, Shinachiku groans. He could hear Ayaka crashing through his house, searching for him. He pushes the wooden slab off of him and sits, rubbing his throbbing head.

"I'm here… Ayaka-chan." He calls out softly to the intruder who immediately responds by running into the front of his home.

"You idiot!" She yells at him angrily, her fists balled at her sides. "I… I thought you were dead! You've been gone for a whole week!"

Shinachiku stands in front of her and rubs the back of his head, smiling brilliantly, to which Ayaka blushes.

"I'm sorry I worried you." He responds, touched by her worrying over his well being. With a strange look in her eyes, she steps forward slowly until she is merely inches away from him.

_I-is Ayaka-chan going to hug me..?_

Shinachiku blushes as well, leaning towards her with much anticipation. Ayaka follows suit, leaning closer and closer until… she can get close enough to take a whiff of him and stumbles quickly backwards, holding her nose.

"You haven't showered in a week as well!?" She says incredulously.

"I was a little… distraught." He says, embarrassed.

Ayaka looked like she was about to lecture him about his poor hygiene, but she looked calmly at him and nodded.

"So, why did it take you so long to answer me?" She asked, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

Shinachiku stoops down to pick up his father's box. The forced entry of Ayaka had conveniently dislodged the cover, and it lay open in his hands.

"I was opening the box the Kazekage had given me from my father." He states distractedly as he removes the cloth covering the box's contents.

"That was a week ago, too. What is inside it?" Ayaka asks impatiently, peering over his fingers.

Shina's hands feel a bit of fabric and pulls it up.

It was a long black strip of material, onto which a glint of metal shone.

"It's a hitai-ate? Why would he leave you that?" The red-haired kunoichi asks, nonplussed while Shinachiku was thoroughly overjoyed at his discovery.

"Look at this…" He points to the symbol of a leaf on the center of the seemingly ordinary forehead protector.

"A child of the _Leaf_…" The boy says happily, tears springing to his eyes. Ayaka continues to give him a puzzled look.

"I'm from Konohagakure."

-End of Chapter Two

—Story by ODG


	3. Chapter Three

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Three

by operadeglace

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><p>"Naruto? Where is your first hitai-ate?"<p>

A beautiful woman with long black hair and clear eyes asks politely as she folds a small pair of pink pants and puts it in a neat pile on the bed she was sitting on.

"Um… why are you asking?"

A male voice echoes from the bathroom.

"Oh, nothing special. Bolt is just having a hard time fitting in… he just doesn't feel motivated to do well in school. I thought that maybe you could give him your old hitai-ate to inspire him to do better." She replies gently.

There was a moment where there was no response from the male in the shower, only the sound of water rushing and draining into the floor.

"The kid hates my guts. Why would he want my old relic?"

The man known as Naruto says finally, answering very carefully. His blue eyes were wide with fear.

In his mind he was transported to a starry night, leaves rustling in the winds with a sea of sound, and her.

How heavenly she looked in the pale light of the moon lying in his arms…

_"I mean it."_

_"No, Naruto, I can't take this! Think about it… you told me it embodies all of your hopes and dreams! I can't just…"_

_"I wouldn't have any of those dreams without you. I wouldn't have any hope without you."_

_"Don't… don't say that…"_

He didn't feel like telling his wife, Hinata, that he had given the hitai-ate meant for his firstborn son, to his first love.

"Oh! I, uh, I think I left it with a friend for safe keeping." Naruto turns the shower up, full blast, to try and drown out the subtle hints of his stretched truth.

"Please, try to get it back for me?" Hinata finishes folding her children's clothes and sighs.

Naruto knocks his forehead against the tiles of the shower and groans.

"Yeah! I'll get it back today!"

—

When he was a snot-nosed genin, Naruto imagined himself as Hokage with everyone bowing to his every whim, being admired by men and women alike for his manliness, endless days of goofing off and eating ramen…

Being the Seventh Hokage wasn't anything like he'd thought it'd be.

There was so much responsibility that came with his leadership, but there was no one better suited for the task of protecting and running the technologically booming city of Konohagakure than Uzumaki Naruto, valiant hero of the world.

Unfortunately, his job took him away from his family every day. Hinata was fine with it all, giving him his space and keeping the household in order and children maintained.

His young son, Bolt, and his tiny daughter, Himawari, however, were growing up without him.

This was a thought that ate at him every day when he returned home, late at night. The tired Seventh Hokage would sneak into their bedrooms to kiss their cheeks while they slept, saddened to find them growing older each time he did.

Naruto knew more than anyone in the village the pains of growing up without parents. He hated that his dream of being Hokage was now forcing his children to experience the same sort of pains that he had.

The morning light crested over the cityscape on Hokage Mountain as the Seventh moved swiftly above the rooftops to take a quick stop on his way to work.

The air was cool and crisp, and he could hear the familiar sounds of the leaves whistling in the forests surrounding his beautiful home.

One more leap and he was high above the awakening streets, touching his feet down softly in front a rooftop home. He lifted his hand to knock at the door but stops as he sees the person whom he was there to visit, sliding open a nearby door and stepping out onto the balcony.

It was a slim woman with pale pink hair and mint colored eyes. She held a mug in her hands that occasionally puffed out little tufts of steam into the cold morning air. The petite woman walked to the bannister of the balcony to lean her elbows onto the railing, looking at the sun rising in the distance.

Naruto took a moment to admire one of his most dearest friends in life as she sipped her coffee, waiting for her to notice him as he stood rooted to the spot. Although he thought she was as beautiful as she ever was, he noticed her eyes were red and swollen. She must have been crying again…

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Naruto says brightly, giving her a winning smile.

Sakura turns suddenly, her lovely eyes lighting up as she sees his smile.

"Naruto! Good morning! We haven't seen you for a while! What can I help you with?" She asks, forsaking her mug on the railing to walk to the side that was closer to her childhood friend.

"What? I can't be here just because I miss you, Sakura-chan?" He grins, his whiskered cheeks making him look like a mischievous fox.

Sakura raises an eyebrow and grins at him knowingly, folding her arms expectantly.

"Aw, you caught me. I actually, well…" He laughs, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"I need my hitai-ate back."

Naruto thought he saw a flash of sadness and guilt in her expression as she looked away from him, her gaze drifting to the front gates.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I lost it." She smiles weakly at him, not able to look him in the eyes. "Why did you need it?"

It was Naruto's turn to feel a little sadness.

_So… she didn't really care about me after all…_

He shook his blonde head and tried to smile without revealing his obvious hurt.

"I was supposed to give it to our son." Naruto says simply.

His words have an immediate impact on Sakura who nearly falls on her side of the balcony. In a flash, Naruto jumps to her side and catches her in his arms.

"Whoa, Sakura-chan. Are you getting enough sleep?" Her friend asks worriedly as he holds her protectively in the warmth of his arms.

Sakura's body starts to tremble.

"O-our _son_?" She repeats his earlier comment that had such an effect on her.

"Well, yeah. Hinata and I." Naruto's grin slipped as he set her back on her feet. " Hinata wanted it to see if it would help Bolt… you know how crazy that kid is getting nowadays."

Sakura takes a deep breath and sighs, holding her hand on her chest in relief.

"Oh, _Bolt_." She smiles at him warily, torn on the inside as she was not sure if she was relieved or saddened by the blonde man's response.

"He reminds me a lot of you, actually, Naruto. Sorry I don't have it anymore…"

Naruto pats her head affectionately and grins widely, something he did rarely in those days, but reserved it only to be used in her presence.

"Ah, well. I'll just tell her I lost it." He makes sure that she is stable before jumping onto the railing and saluting to her before leaping off. "Well, see you laters, Sakura-chan!"

After retrieving her mug, Uchiha Sakura walks slowly back into her kitchen where she stops in front of the sink, her body leaning over the basin as her tears began to fall once more.

_"Gaara… please, take good care of him."_

_"…you're sure about this, Haruno-san?"_

_"I have to protect that impossible dream of his."_

_"What is his name?"_

_"Shinachiku."_

_"How fitting."_

-End of Chapter Three.

—Story by ODG


	4. Chapter Four

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Four

by operadeglace

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><p><em>"You're adopted!?"<em>

Ayaka screeches in surprise.

Shinachiku winces as the high frequency of her yell pierces his ear drums.

"My father… Ryoukan… told me on his death bed that I was a child of the leaf."

"What? Were you born in a tree..?"

"No. Konohagakure."

"Ah, the hitai-ate with the leaf. Got it." Ayaka nods her head in understanding. "So, um, what are you going to do?"

His pretty team mate was hoping that he wouldn't say the words 'going to' and 'Konoha'…

"I'm going to Konoha."

He said them.

Ayaka gives him her best, condescending smirk to mask her disappointment.

"Hah! Like you'd ever make it that far without—"

She is cut off from speaking by Shinachiku swiftly grasping both of her hands and looking her firmly in the eyes.

"Come with me, Ayaka-chan!" He blurts out, his face blushing deeply as he holds her small hands.

Ayaka turns as red as her hair as she looses the ability to speak.

"The truth is… the truth is, I really care for you!" He says quickly, rather loudly, a slight tremor of fear in his voice.

"Ever since I first saw the freckles on your cheeks, I liked you. _I liked you a lot!_"

Ayaka's mouth goes slack as she feels her chest burn with lovely feelings as he spoke so passionately to her.

Shinachiku, not seeing a response from her, fears he had gone too far. He steps away quickly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I-I'm so sorry…" He stutters, his blonde hair falling into his eyes as he bows apologetically to the red haired girl.

"I know I'm a worthless ninja… I am not as strong or handsome as Magire, or charming… but, even if you don't like me, you will always be the girl of my dreams, Ayaka-chan." Shinachiku sighs sadly as Ayaka stays silent.

There was an eerie, awkward silence that lasted a few minutes before the kunoichi finally mumbles quietly.

"I like you, too."

Shina is flabbergasted. When he regains his senses, he smiles that smile that Ayaka loved so dearly.

Then, the smile slowly fades as he looks at her strangely and cocks his head to the side.

"You're not Magire, disguised as Ayaka just to poke fun at me, are you? Because, if I kiss you, and you're that guy, I'm gonna have nightmares about it the rest of my life…"

Ayaka launches herself at him, hugging his midsection affectionately.

"No kissing yet, idiot." She says into his clothing as she hugs him.

The young ninja freeze in place as they hear a chuckle come from the broken door.

"Well, well! I_ knew_ you liked him."

Ayaka growls as she turns swiftly to see Kankuro and the Kazekage standing expectantly in the doorway.

"Whaddaya want, _geisha man_?" She snarls as she turns in Shinachiku's embrace, one arm still hooked around his waist.

"Good one, _dot face_! We're just here to make sure your man doesn't skip town…" He smirks as he folds his arms in a very intimidating manner. The blonde boy furrows his brow.

"What do you mean?" He says very slowly, trying to gauge the atmosphere that was evolving around them.

"You cannot leave this village." Gaara speaks in his normal, nonplussed tone. His voice sent involuntary shivers down Shina's spine.

"W-why not, s-sir?" The younger boy stammers.

"Your inherited abilities are too valuable for our village to lose." The Kazekage responds, smoothly. Kankuro gives a shocked look to his younger brother, a motion that is missed by the teenagers in the room, who were still utterly confused.

"Now that you know the truth… you must never leave Sunagakure."

Gaara's eyes narrow menacingly, a very scary image for Shinachiku, who found the Kazekage's resting face to already be quite terrifying. He feels Ayaka's fingers pinch his back.

"Run, Shinachiku." She says calmly as she stares down the two grown men. Shinachiku looks at her strangely again.

"You dummy! I said run!" Ayaka yells as she leaps forward, attacking Kankuro with a kunai that is easily deflected by a single swipe from the Kazekage's far more experienced sibling. She rolls to the side of him as her kunai lands at her feet with a useless clatter. The painted man starts to laugh heartily.

"HAHAHA! Not even close, little bratling! Try again in twenty years…"

Ayaka grins up at him as her fingers bring up a string that immediately wipes the smile from his face. Before either of the men had a chance to move, the petite kunoichi pulls on the cord in her hands, unleashing a booby trap that she had expertly set up a few moments after she had burst through the Ryoukan household's front door.

In a flash, the Kazekage and his elder brother were mummified in a sea of metal threads. Shinachiku was astonished.

_Wow… she's amazing. I don't ever want to get on her bad side…_

"I can't hold them for long, Shinachiku!" Ayaka grinds out as she struggles to hold Kankuro in her trap. "Go to Konoha! Take the supplies in our spot..!"

Shinachiku is torn. He doesn't want to leave… especially not after he sees the blood dripping from the kunoichi's hands.

"I won't leave you! Finding my birth parents… its not worth leaving you!"

"Idiot… this is how I'm saying_ 'I love you'._" She shouts at him, frustration etched in her voice. Shinachiku is rendered speechless by her words.

"Please, go. I'll be alright." She whispers to him with a sad smile gracing her freckled face. "I have my family's falcons… we can send messages to each other…"

One of Kankuro's arms breaks free from the thread trap. The Kazekage's prison of cords begins to shake slowly, a foreboding, unnatural sound coming from his cocoon of cords. Ayaka's hold starts to waiver.

"If you don't go, _I will go on a date with Magire_!" She threatens him, gasping as Kankuro's head breaks free.

"Okay, okay!"

Shinachiku quickly grabs his travelling pack and turns momentarily towards her as he was halfway out of the nearby window. He instinctively gives her a grin with a thumbs up.

"I will find my parents, then I will come back for you! I promise!"

"GO, STUPID!"

With one leap from the windowsill of his childhood home, Shinachiku was free…

—

"You know, we can still catch the little punk."

Kankuro grunts to his younger brother who walks calmly beside him. In his arms rested an unconscious Ayaka, her hands tightly bandaged and dressed.

Gaara shakes his head in response.

"Let him go. It's his destiny."

Kankuro chuckles deeply.

"Right… _destiny_. You know, if that pink haired harpy finds out you let him get to Konoha, you are in some deep sh*t." He quietens down as the red-haired kunoichi in his arms stirs.

Gaara smiles gently, something that Kankuro still wasn't quite used to after all these years. Suddenly, it looked like a light bulb clicked on in the elder brother's head.

"_Oh_… so that's why you gave him that box and said it was from old man Ryoukan. So sneaky. And that threat, about the kid not leaving Sunagakure…?"

"Empty."

Kankuro laughs so loudly that he nearly drops the teenager he was carrying.

"You know how much trouble that kid is going to cause? Why'd you do it?"

"Naruto was my first real friend. He deserves to know the truth." Gaara replies simply, eliciting another grin from his brother.

"Alright… but, if that woman finds out, I will not step in to save you…"

Gaara sighs. Another thing that slightly irked Kankuro.

_Haruno-san…_

_"Why can't you just keep it?" Gaara says softly._

_"I can't… Naruto… he deserves more. Much more than I can give him…"_

_"Much more than a child..?" The Kazekage questions, disbelief in his voice, although his face held its stoicism._

_"This child will bind his heart to me for the rest of his life.. I just know it. He still has hopes and dreams that are unfulfilled… I just want… I just want to make him happy."_

_"You're not making any sense to me. Wouldn't your child make him happy..?"_

_"I am broken." Tears spring to her emerald eyes. "How can I ever give him what he deserves? He deserves pure, wholehearted, unwaivering love." The tears start to cascade down her cheeks and onto the blankets of the sleeping baby in her arms._

_"I am incapable of giving that kind of love…"_

-The End of Chapter 4.

-Story by ODG

—

Phew! Another chapter done!

I am trying to draw a lot of parallels in my story that will make the outcome as plausible as possible. visit my tumblr for side stories and character profiles!


	5. Chapter Five

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Five

by operadeglace

* * *

><p><em>One moonlit night, long ago…<em>

_Sakura had come to Naruto's apartment late at night looking like she had been hit by a tidal wave._

_"Naruto… do you… do you still like me?"_

_Naruto was a little unprepared for a question of that magnitude._

_It was obvious that he still did, but verbally answering her in that moment meant a final resolution for him. It meant that it was time for him to confess his deep love for his team mate. It also meant that he might be rejected that very moment._

_He wasn't sure how he'd be able to cope with a rejection from the girl he had loved most of his life._

_"Sakura-chan…"_

_"Why? Why do you like me?" She interjects urgently._

_Naruto frowned in worry. Something sounded strange, and there was also something odd in her demeanor as she questioned him hastily._

_"Well, Sakura-chan… I figure… I… well, I dunno…" He was usually so loud and outspoken, but he felt so strongly about her that he couldn't put his feelings into an adequate enough description._

_'You're beautiful.'_

_'You make me happy.'_

_'I'm strong because of you.'_

_'You're not perfect, but that's what I love about you.'_

_'I love you.'_

_'I really love you, Sakura-chan.'_

_Sakura looked at him sadly and the whiskered ninja panicked. He guessed that she must have misunderstood his lack of words for lack of things he really did like about her…_

_"I kept my promise! I brought Sasuke back!" Naruto's words spill clumsily from his mouth. He feels a little light headed._

_Was that all he could say to her at a crucial time like this?_

_"I guess that now I can tell you how I truly feel about you!"_

_He starts, trying to hide his nervousness with his grin, but, even that was faltering._

_"I… I… Sakura-chan… you… I-I…"_

_Naruto's shaking hands cover his face._

_He was ashamed of himself in that moment._

_He had tamed the nine-tailed demon fox, he was the hero of the war, saving both village and the world from enslavement and ruin, and yet, he was afraid of something so small…_

_He was mortified by a small, slim girl with pink hair's rejection of his confession._

_"I can't say what I really feel… I can't… I'm not finding the right words…"_

_He whispers honestly, frustration etched in his words._

_Suddenly, he felt arms wrap around his neck._

_Sakura pushed his shoulders down to match her height so they were face to face._

_Then she was kissing him._

_"Show me." She whispered, desperately, pleadingly. It was so humble a request that it shattered his heart into a million pieces._

_"Show me what you feel for me, Naruto." Her lips were soft, pliant petals against his._

_Stop this… she was crying over Sasuke a minute ago, and you know it!_

_Don't take advantage of her in this state! Stop this right now!_

_"Please… love me."_

_Naruto shakes the daydream out of his head and finishes his cold and soggy cup of instant ramen._

_Ever since Hinata had brought up the need for his old hitai-ate, he couldn't get that night out of his head._

_"I want you to have this… you are a part of my dreams."_

He was so silly those sixteen long years ago.

She lost his most treasured possession (besides his father's coat), and with it, went that part of his dreams.

For a few short, heavenly weeks, Sakura had been his 'sort-of' girlfriend.

They went on dates and outings, held hands and talked about dreams…

They even had a lot of —

Naruto blushed at the thought of intimate relations with his Sakura-chan. He grinned madly and swiveled around in his chair, much like an over-active child would if he sat were he sat.

And then he paused. His mind pondered on the long, lonely months of rejection that followed, when Sakura refused to see him, offering him no explanation as to what error he had made to deserve such treatment.

_'She conveniently re-emerged once Sasuke returned, nine months later',_ he thought bitterly.

He always wondered what he could have done more to keep her…

_"Ahem!"_

Naruto's face was red as he looked at his advisor, Shikamaru, with a terrified expression, like he was caught in the act of doing some mischievous thing.

"You were spacing out again, Naruto. You have a telecast in ten minutes, so I thought I'd go over some notes with you."

Naruto rubs the back of his head and nods.

"Yeah, thanks…"

—

It was Ino's fault.

She knew that she was distracted by her thoughts about what gift she was going to give Sakura for her birthday, so she didn't see the boy in front of her.

But, when her shopping bags, and contents within them, scattered around her within a fifteen foot radius, she was thoroughly pissed.

"_He_y_!_ Watch where you're going, kid!"

She shouts angrily at the blonde haired boy who had 'run into' her.

"I'm s-sorry! Let me help you!" Was his gentle response as he immediately started to gather up the wrinkled bags in his hands, dusting them off before placing them at her feet to fetch more.

"Don't steal anything, punk! I'll know!"

Ino took a good look at him as they both picked at the dozen oranges that had spilled from her grocery bag.

By the way he was dressed, she knew that he had come from Sunagakure, but, he wore a hitai-ate with Konoha's symbol on it.

When she looked closer, she found the boy to be quite handsome, and oddly familiar…

His forehead was _huge_.

_'Oh! He reminds me of Sakura! Hahaha…'_

As he handed her the last orange from the ground, the young boy's stomach growled loudly.

"Sounds like someone is hungry." Ino remarks, her mothering instincts surfacing, though the nice young boy wasn't her own child.

"Um… yes." He says, embarrassed, hugging his midsection tightly with his arms to stifle the monstrous sounds his tummy was making.

"Well…" The blonde woman looks over the shopping bags in her arms with a smile. "It doesn't look like you've stolen anything. And, you did apologize…"

She felt sorry for the boy as he stared longingly at the groceries in her hand with a hungered expression. He looked like he hadn't eaten for some time.

"How about you help me carry all of these and I buy you lunch!"

The young ninja grins, and Ino finds herself instantly charmed by the boy.

"Can we have some ramen?" He beams, taking all of her bags into his arms hastily.

"Sure, kid." She pats him on the back as he teeters from side to side, trying to balance the load as best as he could.

"I'm Ino. What's your name?" Ino says politely as she takes a bag from him to help the kid out.

"Oh! I'm Shinachiku. Nice to meet you, Ino-san."

-End of Chapter 5.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>Shina's in Konoha! Now crap gets real… lol<p> 


	6. Chapter Six

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Six

by operadeglace

* * *

><p>"So, what's your story, kid?"<p>

Ino asks Shinachiku bluntly as he happily eats his ramen.

"Wow! This ramen is the best I've ever had!" He exclaims, appreciatively, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm here to find my birth parents. I was born here."

Ino was wondering which of his parents gave him that dashing smile of his…

"I see. Do you know their names?"

The blonde boy shakes his head in the negative.

"How do you know you're from here?" She asks, putting her hand up to signal the attendant for another bowl, as the teenager was almost through with his second helping and didn't look like he was ready to stop anytime soon.

He points haphazardly to the hitai ate on his head.

"This was probably my real dad's. It was given to me by my adoptive father who passed away…" He stops eating. Ino noted that it looked like a dark shadow of sadness had passed over him. "He was a very good father."

The older woman hurriedly grabs the bowl from the waitress and places it in front of Shina, who quickly regained his hunger as soon as the smell of the broth hit his nostrils.

_'Boy, this kid really likes his ramen… reminds me of a certain Hokage I know…'_

"I'm guessing you need a place to stay while you look for your parents, Shinachiku?" Ino asks kindly, earning another, noodle-mouthed smile from the boy.

"Oh, yes, please!"

"I would have you stay with us, but, I'm afraid that my husband gives people who don't know him the creeps…" She sighs thoughtfully.

Shinachiku was disappointed.

He felt very comfortable with Ino-san, who he considered his first friend that he had made in the village.

"_Luckily,_ I have a good friend who has a large apartment with many extra rooms. After we eat, I will ask her if she can help us out."

—

"Happy Birthday, Mom."

A young bespectacled girl presents a pink package with a gold bow to Sakura as she was preparing dinner.

"Salada! How nice!" She whipes her hands on her apron and places the gift on the dining room table so she could sit and open it. Salada tries to seat herself calmly next to her mother, her wide eyes betraying her excitement.

Sakura lifts a small, red cord with a tiny pendant that shone in the light. As the birthday gal looked closer, it appeared to be a piece of silver that was shaped to look like a piece of bamboo.

"Bamboo? How… pretty…" She laughs nervously, wondering what exactly the reasoning behind the gift was.

Salada, picking up on her mother's confusion, sighs and grabs the gift, tying it around her wrist.

"_Shinachiku_."

The little girl says simply.

The blood drains from Sakura's face as her daughter speaks.

How does she know about Shinachiku..?

Sakura grasps her chest as she feels her heart wrench and throb with regret and loss.

"You call out for shinachiku almost every night when you sleep. I read in a book that you dream about things you really want subconsciously, so I went to the jewelry shop and bought you some 'shinachiku'!"

Salada says innocently, blushing in embarrassment.

Sakura shakily kisses her daughter on the head.

"I… I love it! In fact, let's have some tonight! It is my favorite in ramen, after all. How do you always get things like that right? My girl is so smart…"

"Hah! I knew it!" The dark haired girl smirks and begins to exit the room. "I'm so good at giving gifts! Let me know when the food is ready."

She says pompously as she returns to her room to finish her school work.

Sakura waits until her daughter is out of earshot before she falls to her knees, clutching the present attached to her wrist, sobbing.

Why was she still being punished for that terrible decision she had made fifteen years ago?

Her guilt had built up over the years, gnawing away at her insides, pawing at her conscience.

Where was he now?

Was he being loved?

Was his family treating him well?

What does he look like?

These were all questions she often asked herself when she was left alone. With Sasuke constantly gone, this was nearly every waking moment.

_What if I kept him?_

She shook her head.

She had done it to protect Naruto's impossible dream…

_Or was it to protect my 'impossible dream' with Sasuke..?_

She felt so selfish and evil. The guilt was hammering her into the floor…

_*knock knock!*_

Sakura slowly gathers herself together and uses her apron to wipe away her tears. That was Ino's knock, but she was far to early to be picking her up for the 'girl's night out' that she had promised her to celebrate her birthday…

She opens the door to find her best friend, yelling a greeting with outstretched arms.

"Sakura! I've got an early surprise for you! Let's call it a chance for you to spread some good will on this your most blessed of birthdays, you old hag!"

Sakura's eyebrow twitches in annoyance as she listens to her outspoken friend explain about a very special new friend that she had just acquired…

—

Shinachiku was pacing in the hallway that Ino-san had told him to wait in while she convinced her friend, '_Sakura_', to let him stay with her while he sought out his real parents.

_"YOU TOLD HIM THAT HE COULD STAY WITH ME!?"_

He heard another woman yell.

It sounded like negotiations weren't going well.

Shinachiku climbed stealthily onto the roof and popped his head over the side to glance through the apartment window that housed a view of Ino and her friend.

The young ninja's eyes focused on the unfamiliar female who was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor as Ino was talking.

This 'Sakura' woman was unlike any he had ever seen before. Her hair was an exotic shade of pink, reminding him of the cherry blossom trees that bloomed in the distance.

He thought her to be the prettiest lady (besides his Ayaka-chan) that he had ever seen.

_"She's beautiful, right?"_

A male voice says above Shinachiku's crouched position.

"Yeah, she is…wait—"

Before Shina could react, he was yanked into the air and suspended by a strong grip on his collar.

—

Naruto held the teenager with ease as he squirmed, kicking fruitlessly in the air.

"Well, what do we have here?" The Seventh says dangerously.

"Looks like we have a little pervert on our hands!"

Shinachiku shakes his head desperately.

"N-no! I was just waiting until Ino-san came back!"

Shina gulped nervously at his words. They just made him sound like an even bigger pervert. He looked sheepishly into Naruto's face, puzzled as the man's blue eyes squinted towards his forehead.

_My forehead isn't THAT big..!_

Shinachiku shouts inwardly.

He watches with wonder and awe as the strange newcomer with the white coat points his finger at his forehead protector.

"_What are you doing with my hitai ate?_"

-The End of Chapter 6.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>Phew! Another chapter down! Hope you enjoy!<p>

Let me know if you like it or not! :) I looooove comments!


	7. Chapter Seven

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Seven

by operadeglace

* * *

><p><em>"Come on, Sakura. He's a good kid."<em>

Salada pressed her ear to the door so hard that it was throbbing.

Whatever her mom and Aunt Ino were talking about, it sounded interesting. She was alerted from her studies and to the imminent drama by her mother's yelling.

_"You've only known him for an hour!"_

"Who are they talking about?" The dark haired girl whispers thoughtfully to herself.

_"He's trying to find his birth parents… he came all the way from Sunagakure."_

There was a long moment of silence between the two women.

Salada opened her door ever so slightly to see what was wrong.

Sakura looked as if all the life was sucked out of her body. She stood, frozen to the spot, pale as a sheet.

"This boy… _what is his name_?" She says, looking at her wrist. The charm that Salada had given as a present glinted in the fading sunlight.

Ino's head tilts to the side, noting her friend's drastic change in disposition.

"Shinachiku."

Salada gasps, looking to her mother's pale wrist encircled by the red cord.

_Shina…chiku!?_

Then the young girl watches in horror as her mother collapses as if she were suddenly struck dead by some invisible force.

"Sakura!?"

Ino immediately drops to her knees beside her fallen friend in fear, checking her pulse.

"M-mama!" Salada sprints to the two older women's side and Ino raises her hand calmly.

"Salada… she's fine. She's just fainted." She cushions her unconscious comrade's head in her lap.

"Can you go get a glass of water for your mother, please?"

The young ninja in training nods and hurries into the kitchen to fetch what was asked of her.

Ino stares at the unconscious Uchiha matriarch.

"What just happened..?"

—

"What are you doing with my hitai ate?"

Naruto's hands gripped on the young man's collar.

In his mind he imagined the boy on the roof, spying on Sakura through her windows.

Watching her eat.

Watching her dust her high shelves.

Watching her sleep.

Watching her take a bath.

This.

Was.

Not.

Okay.

His stealing of Sakura's prized possessions (such as his hitai ate, probably) was a step closer to the punk actually making a move on her!

He shook the blonde teen threateningly.

"Give me a good reason not to throw you prison, kid."

The boy's eyes grew wide with fear.

"Please, s-sir! It's all just a big understanding!"

This mysterious young ninja needed to be taught a lesson. A stint in jail would help him to see that his Sakura-chan needed to be left alone.

_"I'm your son."_

Yes, jail time.

Jail time and maybe a punch in the di—

…

… …

… … …

What did he just say?

"What did you… just say?"

Naruto's words mirror his thoughts.

_Impossible._

_He couldn't have said—_

"I think… I'm your son."

The shichidaime pauses, his eyes quickly assessing the boy's appearance to deduce some answers.

Blonde hair.

About fifteen.

Green eyes.

Abnormally _beautiful_ forehead…

After viewing these features, his heart immediately skipped a beat.

It was impossible that such a child could exist…

Naruto was half way between the real world, and an alternate universe created from his old hopes and dreams.

The universe that he had shared with his Sakura-chan.

_I… I can't believe this. He must be lying._

Placing the boy on the ground, he drew his hands shakily on his hitai ate which the kid must have mistaken for a sign of affection.

The boy grinned, then Naruto knew he wasn't lying.

That was his smile.

_"Naruto… I can't see you anymore." He remembered Sakura's face peeking through her door._

_"What!? Why!?" He said frantically._

_"I… I need some space. I have to think…"_

_"You've been thinking for NINE MONTHS now! Please! Just tell me what I've done wrong!"_

_His voice became desperate and pleading as he yelled through the opening of her door._

_"Just… give up on me, Naruto."_

_He could tell she was crying. Before leaving, he speaks firmly through the crack in the door, making sure she knew that he was serious._

_"I will never give up on you, Sakura-chan. It's my ninja way."_

She had avoided him for nine months.

_Nine_ months.

In Naruto's mind, so many mysteries that plagued him for the past fifteen years were being solved.

And then, his heart exploded.

"Son… what is your name?"

"Shinachiku."

The whiskered man's whole body starts to shake as he moves toward the boy who seemingly stepped out of his dreams.

_"Sakura-chan… if we get married, we should call our kid Shinachiku."_

_Sakura blushed._

_"What makes you think I'd marry you!?"_

_She yells at him, shaking a fist in the air._

_Naruto scratched his head in confusion._

_"Aren't we in love?"_

Naruto quickly reaches for Shinachiku and wraps his arms around his shoulders. He tenderly begins to cry joy into the top of the boy's head.

"Shinachiku…"

Shina lets his new found father hold him for as long as possible, basking in the feelings of acceptance and acknowledgement held in the warmth of his orange sleeves.

As he returned the embrace he closed his eyes.

He could hear the rushing of the leaves in the wind all around him.

Never before had he heard such a beautiful and peaceful sound.

-The End of Chapter 7.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>Narusaku lives on. Believe it!<p> 


	8. Chapter Eight

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Eight

by operadeglace

* * *

><p>(In this chapter, Sakura's personality is based off of the girl in chapter 699, whom I don't recognize as the real Sakura, but, Kishimoto has canonized. Bear with the story… it will all turn out good in the end!)<p>

* * *

><p><em>Sixteen years ago…<em>

"You're lucky to have such a wonderful boyfriend, miss."

A shop owner told Sakura as she was given an entire bag of oranges.

"He said you needed these and told me to give them to you when you walked by."

Heat radiated from her face as she accepted the bag with a grateful bow of her head. As she looked into the brown paper sack, she saw a piece of paper which she fished out and read.

It was scribbled in Naruto's messy handwriting.

_'I know you aren't feeling well, so I got you these to help you feel better. See you later!_

_Naruto'_

Sakura smiled and hugged the oranges to her chest.

She never thought that her stubborn team mate could possess such thoughtfulness. Even knowing that they weren't in a real relationship, he treated her like a queen.

What kind of relationship were they in, anyway?

The pink haired medic nin looked down at the note once more, pondering that question in her mind.

A few weeks back she had come to Naruto feeling broken and alone…

Sasuke had left her behind again.

For three days after his departure, she isolated herself from the world, and wallowed in self pity and loathing. In her mind, his leaving meant that she was inadequate. Weak. Ugly, even, unworthy of the sole surviving Uchiha's love, after all that she had sacrificed for him… she was acting so pitiful and pathetic, it hurt for her to think about it.

One day, while crying in the confines of her room, Sakura heard something stir outside on her balcony. When she opened her curtains, there was a brown paper bag sitting just outside of her glass door.

When she grabbed the bag, a note fell into her hand.

_'Sakura-chan, I hope you aren't sick. You can talk to me anytime._

_Naruto'_

For the first time since Sasuke left, the medic nin smiled.

She always felt happy when she was around Naruto.

The coldness around her seemed to vanish as she thought of how many kind things Naruto had done for her during the course of their friendship.

_'You can talk to me anytime.'_

She reread the scratchy note several times before she slowly rose to her feet.

Her body seemingly moved of its own accord as she made her way in the cover of night to his apartment.

She just wanted to be loved.

She wanted to be the strong kunoichi she knew she had become in Sasuke's absence.

The strong one she became in Naruto's presence.

She needed warmth and light.

_"Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan…"_

Sakura blushed as her mind replayed the events of that starry night.

Now that intimacy was a regular thing with she and the former jinchuuriki since that particular night, it was hard not to think about it on a regular basis.

What he lacked in words, he really made up for in passion.

But, the question still stood… what had he become to her?

1. Naruto gave her thoughtful gifts on a daily basis.

2. They went on dates.

3. She allowed him to hold her in public.

4. Coitus… _lots_ of it…

If the shadow of Sasuke didn't haunt her heart, she would have considered herself Naruto's girlfriend.

After all, over these past couple weeks, she realized that she loved the idiot in return…

_'You love Sasuke just as much as you do Naruto, yet the fool gives you all of his heart unselfishly.'_

Sadly, Sakura tucked the bag of oranges into her work locker and buttoned her white hospital coat.

_"He deserves more than you can give."_

That naggy voice in the pit of her mind was right, she felt.

How could she do this to Naruto who was giving to her so freely without asking for anything in return but pure love?

She took one of the fruits from the sack and slips it in her pocket before starting her shift. A nurse with short brown hair and glasses intercepts Sakura on her way to the hospital reception room.

"Good morning, Haruno-san! You… you don't look well…"

The woman says, looking over the younger medic nin curiously.

"I've been under a lot of stress lately, Ito-san, but, other than feeling a little nauseous, I think I'm okay." She smiles, waving her hand dismissively in front of her face.

"Alright, if you're sure." The nurse bows before taking her leave. "Oh, Tsunade-sama is waiting for you in the reception room…"

"I know, thanks."

The smell of the orange in her pocket comforts her as she walks into the reception area to see her mentor, one of the legendary san-nin, standing impatiently with her arms folded under her large chest.

"You're _late,_ Sakura." The former hokage states with a displeased look on her face.

"I'm so sorry, I was feeling a little…"

The room started to spin.

"..I was feeling…"

Then her head felt like it was floating painfully away from her body.

"… f-feeling…"

Luckily she was able to find a trash can before she started to empty the contents of her stomach.

Ten minutes later, Sakura found herself recuperating on a hospital gurney in a small examination room. Tsunade opened the door with a confused look on her face as she walked to the side of the younger woman, the shadows cast by the drawn curtains obscuring her face.

"I know you and Naruto have been getting very... _close,_ lately."

How did she know about that?

"Are you two sexually active?"

She asks very cautiously, her lips set in a firm line.

Sakura's eyes shot to the floor as her face burned with embarrassment to be asked such a question.

"I see…" Tsunade continues.

"Sakura… _you're pregnant._"

— Story by ODG

* * *

><p>NS FTW<p> 


	9. Chapter Nine

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Nine

by operadeglace

* * *

><p><em>"Sakura… you're pregnant."<em>

Sakura's eyes widen, then, unexpectedly, she starts to chuckle.

The chuckle turns to giggling, which then morphs into a gut busting laugh which causes Sakura to hold her sides.

"Hahahaha! I never knew you were a practical joker, Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade narrows her eyes seriously, her face a stone. Her apprentice wipes her eyes free of tears as she calms down.

"That's impossible. We use protection every time…"

_"…Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan… "_

Then she remembered the one night that started it all. She was so desperate, so needy and emotional… so _forgetful_…

_'Crap…'_

There was a small moment of silence between mentor and pupil as Sakura's hands brushed against the round object in her pocket. Slowly, she withdraws the orange and draws her knees up into a sitting, fetal-like position.

"But, I'm only seventeen."

She starts to cry, and as cold as Tsunade tried to be, she couldn't help but feel pity for her dear student.

"Naruto…_ Sasuke_… "

Streams of tears flowed from her eyes as she felt her world coming to an end.

_'Sasuke… I will have no chance with him ever.'_

_'He will never love me if he knows that I've already had a kid.'_

Her Inner Sakura resurfaces after lying dormant within her to battle her fragile mental state caused by Sasuke's departure from Konoha…

_'You idiot. You love Naruto, don't you?'_

_'He loves you with all his heart, and yet you think about Sasuke first?'_

_'But, I've loved Sasuke before Naruto… wouldn't that make me a terrible woman if I just give up on him?'_

_'You're a terrible woman for forgetting whose baby is in your womb…'_

_'What am I going to do?'_

_'Shannaro! Naruto is a fool, but, he is perfect for you.'_

_'And Sasuke isn't?'_

_'No!'_

_'How do you know that?'_

_'Smell that orange.'_

Sakura brings the fragrant fruit to her nose.

It seemed as if a million memories speed through her mind.

_'How many times has he saved your life?'_

_'…'_

_'How many times was he willing to sacrifice his life and happiness for your happiness?'_

_'…stop.'_

_'How many times has he shown you he's loved you without words?'_

_'Stop, please.'_

_'How many times has Sasuke done ANY of that for you!?'_

"Stop! STOP! No, no, no, no NO!"

Sakura screams out violently, the orange dropping with a thud onto the bed. Tsunade is startled at the pink haired girl's uncharacteristic behavior. She seemed… mentally unstable… so much so that the godaime was terrified on the inside.

"Sakura, calm down…"

'Your obsession with Sasuke will ultimately hurt Naruto, who is the innocent in all this. You're using him and hurting him. You're only good for using and hurting him.'

Inner Sakura split into a darker, venemous version of itself. It was at that point that Sakura, herself, had an epiphany.

_'I love Naruto, not Sasuke.'_

_'It's too late. Your addiction to Uchiha Sasuke has caused too much damage. He is a permanent fixture in your heart.'_

_'Because of your needy, desperate actions, you used Naruto, and now he is bound by that child growing inside of you to a useless woman who will only bring him pain… who has only brought him pain…'_

"Please… stop! Stop, stop, stop…"

Sakura whispers to herself, her face still hidden in her hands. Tsunade allows the situation to unfold, unsure of the next step she should take.

_'Too late. Damaged. Broken. Useless.'_

_'I love him.'_

_'If you really love him, you will let him be loved by someone who wholeheartedly loves him, not halfheartedly like you.'_

_'Hinata…'_

_'Right. Smart girl.'_

_'My heart hurts. I can't even think about it.'_

_'Tough. You have no choice. You brought this upon yourself by being weak.'_

_'If Naruto finds out you're pregnant, he will want to marry you. His life will be over. He will be too distracted to become Hokage.'_

_'He's already turned down missions to take you on dates. Dates! Imagine if he found out you were having his child? His dream would fade and be forgotten.'_

_'He doesn't deserve that. You don't deserve him.'_

"SHUT UP!"

Sakura rebels against the voices in her head and slams her fists down angrily at her sides, sending a tremor through the floor to where her mentor was standing.

She smirks triumphantly as her mind is clear once more. Her grin fades as soon as she feels something cold and wet against her hand. As her eyes focus on the object from which the moisture originated, she starts to convulse slightly.

She had smashed the orange.

It wasn't just crushed, it was pulverized.

The beautiful, comforting, little orange was decimated.

_'I love you so much, Naruto…'_

She couldn't help but to pick up a few tiny pieces of peel and cradle it in her palms.

_'I love you… so I will let you go.'_

Of course, Tsunade was greatly alarmed at her disciple's behavior. There she was, pregnant, talking to herself, and hugging fruit bits.

Sakura returned to 'normal', and spoke with a very calm, measured voice.

"I am still in love with Sasuke. This baby was a mistake."

Tsunade's brow furrows.

"It was a mistake?"

Sakura nods unconvincingly.

"I don't love Naruto, at all. I just use him to feel good about myself."

She continues to nod in agreement with her words, although they are pure lies. The older woman swipes her hand through the air to halt the younger one's speaking.

"If you think I'm going to stay silent about your pregnancy, I will not. Even though you are my pupil, I refuse to keep Naruto's child from him—"

Sakura cuts her teacher off abruptly.

"There's a special procedure that they have in Sunagakure."

Tsunade's eyes enlarge in recognition.

She knew the exact medical procedure Sakura was talking about. Suna had used it for centuries to keep bloodlines pure from illegitimate children.

"Sakura… please, think about this…"

Holding little pieces of orange tightly in her hands, she stands firmly on her feet, giving her mentor a determined look.

"I have. I'm going to Suna."

—

In the present, Sakura's body twitched in Ino's arms as she replayed the painful events in her past within her unconscious mind.

At that moment, Naruto walks through the open front door, his face beaming with pride. He saw Ino seated on the floor of the living room but could not immediately see Sakura lying in front of her.

"Ino! I'd like you to meet my son!" He says proudly, his arm around Shinachiku's shoulders, shaking him slightly.

The boy blushes, a small smile on his face as his father's arm tightened around him.

A look of annoyance spreads over Ino's face.

"You idiot! That's Shinachiku."

Then she saw the smile that the two males shared with each other, and she realized with much astonishment that Shinachiku was, in fact, Naruto's offspring.

"Who's his mother..?" Ino asks, dumbfounded. In her heart, she knew exactly who the boy's mother was.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto's smile widens, his face growing as red as his son's.

"Where is Sakura-chan? She needs to see our boy!"

The shichidaime looked supremely happy as he said her name.

Ino leaned to the side to show him her fainted friend.

Suddenly, Shina felt the weight lifted from his shoulders as the man in the white coat rushes over to the pink haired woman and scoops her into his arms.

Shinachiku watched his 'father' tenderly cradle the woman to his chest.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?! Can you hear me!?"

She stirs slightly, her emerald eyes fluttering open.

"N-Naruto..?"

He sets her gently on a nearby couch and kneels next to her, clearing stray pink hairs that obstructed her face with his fingertips.

_'This must be my mother, then.'_

He took a moment to admire how beautiful she was now that he could see her up close. His heart swelled with pride, for some odd reason…

_'We have the same eyes…'_

Shinachiku felt that strange burning return as he witnessed his real father lovingly tend to his real mother. He could tell that he adored her, and it made the young ninja so happy that tears sprung to his eyes involuntarily.

It was then that Sakura's eyes locked with Shina's identical ones.

"You're… you're so beautiful." She whispers, immediately knowing who the boy was. Her hand reaches out to the teen weakly, then she loses consciousness once more, her body going limp on the couch.

"I need to get her to the hospital. Let's go, Shinachiku."

Naruto collects Sakura into arms once again as he runs and jumps off of the balcony outside the front door.

"Thank you for all your help, Ino-san!"

Shinachiku nods to Ino and leaps after his dad.

Ino stands up, dusting her skirt and turns to find Salada frozen in place with a surprised look on her face.

In her hands, she held a full glass of water.

—

"Tenten, you won't_ believe_ what just happened…"

Ino, with Salada in tow, arrives at Tenten's weapon shop, looking like she had just seen Shikamaru in a pink tutu.

"You're early! We're not going out for another couple hours, and I'm not ready to go yet, Ino." The weapons specialist stands up behind the counter and walks over to her blonde friend.

"We have to cancel tonight. Naruto just took Sakura to the hospital and I'm taking Salada-chan there right now."

"But, it's her birthday! What's wrong with her?"

Ino looks quickly to the young girl who stands silently at her side, holding her cheek warmly with one of her palms.

"Can you go look at the shiny weapons at the front of the store while your Aunt Tenten and I talk really fast?"

Salada smirks, readjusting her glasses before setting off to the display near the entrance.

Once the girl is out of earshot, Ino grabs Tenten's shoulders excitedly. The dark haired woman looks at her friend strangely.

"I just found out that Sakura and Naruto had a baby together!"

She was always a glutton for gossip and juicy rumors, but, this time her suspicions were confirmed.

"Didn't I tell you something was going on between them!?"

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago…"

"Or so we think! Listen, we can't tell Hinata yet. I don't know how she'd handle this…"

Tenten winced as she heard footsteps exit the back room of her shop. Ino looks over her friend's shoulder and stutters in greeting to the newcomer to the conversation.

"H-Hinata… what a surprise!"

Naruto's wife was in the back room, and judging by the look on her face, she had heard everything…

-End of Chapter 9.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>Darn you, little squished orange. NS-blocker. lol<p> 


	10. Chapter Ten

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Ten

by operadeglace

* * *

><p>"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid… PIECE OF CRAP!"<p>

Bolt sighed heavily as he paced in an alley way, kicking pieces of trash against the wall.

The collision of the kicked objects reverberated loud sounds off the walls that clattered and echoed down the length of the narrow alley.

_'Bolt… what am I gonna do with you?'_

The tired, frustrated look in his father's eyes nagged at his thoughts.

When was he going to stop acting like an idiot?

_'Bolt… now, for me, all the people in this village are my family.'_

When was he going to stop feeling so angry?

When would there be pride in his father's eyes instead of disappointment?

He kicks an aluminum can so hard that it rebounds from the plaster wall and hits him square in the forehead.

"Ouch!" Bolt growls as he quickly nurses his aching forehead with massaging knuckles.

_'Sometimes, I can't only be your father…'_

His clear eyes narrowed as his father's words angered him further, rage burning in his chest.

"Sometimes…more like _all the time_…"

Was it so much to ask your father to act like a real father?

Even with him being Hokage, surely he could find the time to do proper father-son activities with his only son. Just yesterday Shikadai was huffing and puffing about all the time his mother was forcing him to spend with his father by flying kites.

They ended up taking a nap under a shady tree in the field rather than fly the kites, but, as hard as Bolt tried, he couldn't hide his jealousy and stormed out of the classroom.

At least his father was there with him doing something. _Anything_.

He felt like such a failure at everything.

School, chores, being a ninja, _being a son_…

Maybe his father didn't like spending time with him because he was… ashamed of him..?

The urge to cry started to prickle at the bridge of his nose as he wallowed in self pity. His fists punched against the same wall he had assaulted with garbage.

"No! I'm not gonna cry!"

As he was still a child, Bolt couldn't understand that his father had spoken truth. He simply couldn't spend time with Bolt because he was just too busy with his work. The whiskered boy was too young and inexperienced to see reason so plainly told to him, but old enough to be swept away in irrational thoughts and fears caused by the hurt that he had felt when he was dismissed by his dad.

"I'm gonna find that old man and beat a straight answer out of him if I have to!"

Over head, a flash of white caught the young genin's eye.

"Dad!" He exclaims as he immediately starts running in the direction which he saw his father's white coat flit amongst the rooftops.

Bolt was too weak of a shinobi to catch up with the Hokage, but he saw him headed toward the hospital.

"Hah, hah… almost… there..!"

He breathes heavily as he sprints as fast as his feet could carry him, darting around busy villagers and leaping over the stone walls in front of the large hospital courtyard.

This time, he would find his father, and make him fix what he had broken…

How could he deny his only son something so important, after all?

—

Shinachiku's chest burned once more as he recalled the events of the past hour from within his hard seat in the deserted hospital waiting room.

Although the current situation he found himself in was quite harrowing, Shinachiku couldn't help but continue to admire his new parents.

_Naruto_… a name he was highly enthused about.

_'Best dad name… ever. I wonder if he likes ramen..?'_

The older ninja had looked so heroic as they traveled on the tops of the Konoha high risers, his white coat whipping in the wind. Shina noticed how intense his new found father's gaze had been and how fiercely determined his expression was as he carried his mother close to his chest in such a protective embrace like he was protecting a delicate, precious flower.

And his mother, _Sakura…_

She was gorgeous, even when she was pale and wilted in Naruto's strong arms.

_"Your father is talking to the head medic right now. You can wait for him if you like."_

_"Yeah, yeah. I got it."_

A disgruntled looking boy with a black track suit walks into the room and throws himself casually into a seat beside Shinachiku, his legs dangling lazily on the side of the chair.

Shina scrunches his nose in disgust as the young boy promptly inserts his pinky into his own nostril and digs it. He turns his head quickly away as the crude kid looks in his direction, only to swing his gaze away again.

It was at that moment that Shinachiku noted that the new kid looked a lot like his father. He even had the same type of markings on the sides of his cheeks…

The young sand-nin's eyes trailed away from the blonde boy who was apparently clearing his sinuses with wiggling, invading digits. His focus locked onto a nearby magazine that had a picture of his father on the cover, standing next to a large stone head carved in his likeness.

_'Hero of the War, Man of the Century',_ it read.

Shinachiku quickly and excitedly swiped the magazine into his hands and thumbed to the specified page on the which held a long in depth article on the former 'jinchuuriki' and current Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.

_'My father… IS THE HOKAGE!?'_

Before Shina could catch himself, he outwardly squealed.

He was too wrapped up in the words written on the page to care about the sneer that he received from the younger boy seated near him. His emerald eyes widened significantly as he began to learn that he was the son of the most amazing man that he never knew existed.

He turned the page and found his father's article had suddenly been overtaken by a two page photo of a beautiful woman with dark hair and clear eyes.

"_Konoha's sweetheart?_" Shinachiku read with dismay. "What happened to my father's story? It just… _stopped_…"

He muttered to himself as he flipped another page with more interviews and photos of the dark-haired woman. The frustrated teen turned to the first appearance of the mysterious lady who had infiltrated his father's story, and scanned the text for more information.

There, in small, embellished letters, Shinachiku saw the explanatory words that broke his heart…

_"Uzumaki Hinata… the dashing Seventh Hokage's wife, Konoha's sweetheart…"_

-The End of Chapter 10.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>I take my salty jabs when I can...<p> 


	11. Side Story One

Child of the Leaf

Side Story One

"Shinachiku and the Secret Meeting Spot"

by operadeglace

* * *

><p>(These side stories do not drive the main storyline, but enhance it with more info! They're the extra bits I didn't fit into the main story, so... here they are...)<p>

* * *

><p><em>A few days before Shinachiku's arrival in Konoha…<em>

Shinachiku immediately ran as fast as he could to his team's secret meeting spot that they used before and after missions to prepare or regroup.

He stopped in front of a sharp wall of rocks jutting out of the sand that looked seemingly impenetrable.

His hands felt along the warm rock face for the small opening that couldn't be seen from the front, hidden by the angle in which the rock behind it was fractured, making it a perfect hiding place for a secret entrance.

Shina's fingers hook onto the inner face, and he squeezes himself into the orifice until he popped through into a small, cool cavern.

After lighting a few candles that were strewn along the perimeter of the cave, the young ninja pulls out a travelling pack that contained all the provisions necessary for him to make his journey to Konoha. He looked momentarily at the other two packs beside his, patting Ayaka's affectionately.

"Heehee… she's totally _my_ girl, now." He points mockingly towards Magire's pack, talking to it as if it were his stoic team mate.

He was personally surprised at his bravery in suddenly confessing to the girl he had loved since childhood. Shina guessed that his newfound courage came from the item that he grasped and pulled out of his pocket…

It was the hitai ate that he had received from his adoptive father. The teen turns it over in his hands to try to deduce what kind of person the birth parent who wore it was.

"This style of band is very manly… so it must be my real father's."

It was a silly reason, but, from the first time Shina laid eyes on the konoha hitai ate, he just knew it was his real dad's…

His fingers traced the symbol of the leaf on the metal face, then to the deep scratches and etchings that seemed unintentional.

"He's probably a great ninja."

With eyes closed, he excitedly drew a picture of his father in his mind.

Blonde, green eyed, very muscular and popular with the ladies…

Shina shook his head.

_'No, no. The only lady in his life should be my mother…'_

He stood high on a mountain overlooking the village with the sound of leaves rustling all around him.

_'He's so cool…'_

Then, sad thoughts crept into his day dream like an unwanted cockroach.

_'If he's so cool… why didn't he want me?'_

Shinachiku shook his head once more, even more vigorously than before, keeping his spirits up.

_'Maybe, he was trying to keep me safe! Yeah, that's it! He loves me so much, he probably needed to protect me from something!'_

The cave was suddenly filled with the sound of the wind howling outside, jogging him from his seated position.

"Better run before that storm gets worse."

Shinachiku straps his pack onto his back and walks toward the narrow cave entrance.

Before he slips through the cleaving rock, he looks briefly at the hitai ate still grasped in his hand.

With deft fingers he ties his father's forehead protector onto his head, feeling that confidence surge within him once more as he moves swiftly into the shifting sands.

-End of Side Story.

— Story by ODG

* * *

><p>check out my tumblr blog for illustrated character profiles!<p> 


	12. Side Story Two

Child of the Leaf

Side Story Two

"Kumotaka Ayaka"

by operadeglace

* * *

><p>Ayaka awoke to the sight of her mother and father sitting beside her holding to each of them one of her bandaged hands.<p>

_"Ayaka!"_

They cry simultaneously as they hug her tightly, weeping and wailing dramatically.

"My baby dumpling!"

"Sweet rice cake!"

Ayaka groaned and rolled her eyes around dazedly to see blurred figures hugging the walls of her rather large room. By their impressive stature and hunkering positions, the young kunoichi guessed that they were her older brothers. She could hear them snickering as her parents spouted off food themed pet names, as they were accustomed to doing in her presence…

Her well meaning father squeezes her hand rather painfully, his emotion taking over as his tear soaked face as his dark blue eyes grow intense in their adoration for his only daughter.

"We don't know why you insist on being a ninja… it hurts your mother and I dearly when our little ramen noodle gets injured…"

_Ramen… noodle?_

…

… …

… … …

_Shinachiku!_

Ayaka yanks her hands away from her parents and hops to her feet.

"I have somewhere I need to be."

She says bitterly as she stands, feeling much like a flapping fish out of water. Her short, slim mother catches her easily, sitting her firmly on her bed.

"Why? Why do you want to leave us so badly?" Her mother asks quietly.

Ayaka wilts in her seated position.

Did they even have to ask that?

Ayaka was born into one of Suna's wealthiest families, the Kumotaka clan. They were the messengers and delivery service for the whole of Sunagakure with clientele spanning the five great ninja villages.

She was called the 'rose child' when she was born, on account of her rare coloring of hair. Remarkably, she was the only girl to be born to the Kumotaka in over four generations, garnering praise and adoration from the entire clan, for in all ways, was quite unique.

So, they spoiled her.

Needless to say, once she was six, she became the chubbiest kid in the entire village.

When her parents weren't around, her brothers would bully her, driven by their jealousy of her special treatment.

_'Fatty freckle face'_ was a favorite. They would chant it over and over again as they poked her cheeks and pulled her hair. She still remembered how sad and helpless she would feel, even at so young an age.

Then she met _him_.

_One day, while hiding from her torturous siblings, Ayaka had gotten lost. She wandered the dusty streets for hours upon hours, feeling so lonely that she felt like she could die…_

_"Hi, there!"_

_Her heart leaps as she hears a gentle voice intrude upon her solitude. She turns to see a blonde boy with soft, green eyes standing behind her._

_Then, Ayaka's heart sank as his eyes settled upon her cheeks, obviously looking at her complexion… and maybe upon her obesity…_

_"Um… uh… uhm…"_

_She was surprised when he started to blush and stammer, his eyes darting away from her. The red haired child started to cry._

_She honestly thought that the boy found her to be repulsive, so she turned on her heel and stalked away._

_Her movements froze as she felt a hand grasp her chubby wrist._

_"Don't go! Let's be friends!" He states cheerfully, almost desperately._

_Ayaka stares at him blankly._

_She had never had a friend before, so she didn't know what to say, opting to stay silent._

_"I-I'm Shinachiku! Please tell me your name!" The boy says rather loudly, his hold tightening on her wrist. His emerald eyes pleading._

_"Ayaka."_

_What the boy did next would literally change her life._

_He grinned. It was a wide, sparkling smile that jump started her heart, causing it to roar in her chest._

_"You wanna play, Ayaka-chan?" Shinachiku says brightly, still holding onto her wrist._

_"As long as we don't play with dolls. I have millions in my room, and they creep me out." Ayaka says snootily, to which Shinachiku laughs._

_"I don't like dolls. I like playing ninja."_

_Being friends with Shinachiku gave Ayaka courage to be discontented with being sad or feeling alone._

_She nearly gave her parents a heart attack when she told them she wanted to become a ninja._

_"B-but… you don't have to, my little dango! You'll never have to work a day in your life! Like… EVER."_

_Her father sobbed, pleading with his cherished daughter on his knees._

_"No. I will be a ninja, not Fatty Freckle Face!"_

_She points a chubby finger in a sweeping motion, sending a threatening look to all of her ten brothers, who currently were dying from laughter caused by their unbelief at her bold words._

_"And when I become a great ninja, I will kick the sh*t out of all of you."_

In the present, fueled by her memories, the red haired kunoichi stands firmly on her feet.

A hush settles upon her older brothers as she steps toward them.

"I'm going on a trip to Konohagakure." She says calmly.

"Buuuuuuut, whyyyyyyyyy…?!"

Her parents throw themselves at her feet. They were loving and kind, but she didn't appreciate their theatrics. Ayaka gave them a stern look, and they stood up respectfully.

Her entire family watched her in silence as she quickly packed a travel bag with clothes and her hefty allowance.

"I'm taking Kumo, so we will be in touch. Don't worry about me."

She hugs her mother and father briefly before walking to the door.

"Love you." She says casually, waving a hand to them with her back turned.

Ayaka pauses a moment before exiting, sweeping a pointed finger at all of her brothers.

"You all behave for mama and papa, _understood?"_

Even though some of them were fully grown men, all of her ten siblings nodded their heads obediently.

_"Good."_

—

On a grassy plain far away from Suna, Ayaka rolled a tiny piece of paper in her fingers then sealed it in a little container that was attached to a dark hawk's leg. She pets the bird affectionately and whispers to it.

"Fly quickly to Konoha and give this to Shinachiku, Kumo."

With a flourish of her arm, the hawk springs into the air, soaring into the heights at a great speed.

Ayaka sits on the grass and imagines what her Shina-kun was doing at that very moment, heat rising to her face as she accidentally thinks about how it would feel to share a kiss with the boy that she loved…

-End of Side Story.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>17/15 I will be taking a three week break from writing any more CotL due to school starting again! Need to be a great student this semester or bye bye scholarship! _

I hope this story will reach a lot of people, especially those who were hurting like I was when Naruto ended the way it did. This is not for popularity or praise, it is more like a healing journey for us all. :)

follow me on tumblr for CotL art and Naruto fan arts drawn by me! Especially watch out for my Chapter 699 and 700 redraws. Already drawn 4 pages for 699! Check them out!

-ODG


	13. Chapter Eleven

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Eleven

by operadeglace

* * *

><p><em>"Gaara… I need your help."<em>

_The Kazekage's face held the same blank expression as Sakura plead with him._

_"You saved my brother when no one else could… I am in your debt. What do you need from me?"_

_The pink haired kunoichi nods her head, crying._

_"I'm pregnant, and I need you to raise my child here in Suna…"_

_Gaara closes his eyes and folds his arms over his chest as he sits behind his desk._

_"I am not in any position to raise your child for you—"_

_"I met a man last time I was here… I think his name was Ryoukan? He was a medic-nin…"_

_"I know him well."_

_"He told me that he always wanted a son…"_

_"I see…"_

Sakura shakes her head in her sleep.

Naruto holds her hand tightly as he sits by her side.

_Pain._

_Searing, white hot pain._

_"You're doing fine, dear… Kizashi! Where are those towels!?"_

_"C-c-coming!"_

_"AGH!"_

_It felt like she was being impaled by giant shuriken._

_Then… the world stopped around her, and all she could hear amid the yammering of her parents and the midwife was the sound of gentle crying._

_Moments later, the elderly midwife tenderly handed a warm bundle to her._

_Sakura looked tiredly down into what she thought was an angel._

_He was so beautiful._

_He had small wisps of blonde hair like his father, yet no whiskers, thankfully._

_Her fingers sought to touch his features and he opened his eyes for the first time, looking straight at her._

_"That's remarkable… he's staring at you. Usually newborns aren't able to do that."_

_The midwife says in awe, then continues to help Sakura's mother clean the blood from the kitchen tiles._

_The baby's eyes were not murky and dull as she had seen countless times before at the hospital._

_Green eyes that seemingly peered into her soul; eyes full of intelligence and life._

_"What are you going to name him?"_

_"Shinachiku."_

Sakura moaned as her eyes fluttered open.

Naruto jumped up while still holding her hand.

"Sakura-chan!" He cried out excitedly.

The pink haired woman turned her head slowly, scanning the room.

_"What have I done..?"_

Painful flashbacks of her crying as she watched Gaara and Shinachiku disappear into the distance past Konoha's front gates jabbed into her skull. Naruto was alarmed when the pale woman started to sob uncontrollably.

"Shin-achiku-u… wh-where is m-m-my son!? N-Naruto..!" She chokes out, grasping at his coat desperately.

Her pleas nearly melted his heart out of his chest as he calls out for their long lost child, trying to steady his childhood sweetheart as she convulses.

"Shinachiku! Shinachiku, get in here quick!"

—

_"Shinachiku! Shinachiku, get in here quick!"_

Bolt's ears perked up at the sound of his father's voice emanating from the room directly across the hall to the side of the waiting room.

To his surprise, the weird kid reading the magazine shot up and heeded the call, sprinting down the hallway and into the room.

"What the..?"

Bolt rises to his feet and cautiously follows the path of the strange teenager that his father had called 'Shinachiku'…

—

Shinachiku hurriedly opened the door and let himself into the hospital room, a frightened look on his face, only to find himself trapped in a confusing moment shared between his newly discovered parents…

They were hugging quite fiercely for two people who weren't married to each other.

His mother was weeping as her arms clung to the white-clothed back.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto… I-I didn't tell you because I… I just wanted to..."

"Shhh. Whatever your reasons were, it's in the past."

"Forgive me…"

"…for his abnormally large forehead?"

Shinachiku's eyes widened.

The conversation had taken an unexpected turn…

Suddenly, the pale, weakened Sakura had found enough strength to angrily grab the Hokage by his collar and shake him violently, his head looking like that of a rag doll's.

"SHANNARO! You just_ had_ to bring my forehead into this _highly emotional moment!"_

"I-was-j-us-t-try-ing-to-ch-ch-cheer-yo-u-up, Sa-Sa-kur-a-cha-an!"

"YOU FAILED!"

"I-m-g-get-ting-diz-zy…"

Sakura releases Naruto's collar and his head drops onto the mattress. Her eyes welled up with tears once again as she realized that Shinachiku had appeared at her bedside opposite of his father.

"Hello…" The boy says in a gentle voice. "Forgive me for interrupting… but, I've been wanting to meet you my entire life."

Sakura reaches over Naruto as he recovers from the wooziness she had caused him, grabbing the boy's shoulders and crushing him to her.

"My baby boy… my sweet, sweet angel…"

She immediately started to sweep her hands through his blonde hair and kiss his face repeatedly. Once Naruto had caught his breath, he leaned back in his chair with a goofy smile.

"Our son, Sakura-chan!" He says half with pride, and halfway in disbelief. "This is _our_ son! We made this kid _together_… luckily he has his mother's good looks!"

"Poor dear, you do have my forehead, but, you are still quite handsome."

Shinachiku basked in the love which they were giving him.

"He must be a ninja, too! Look at the way he carries himself…" Naruto brags out loud, his grin looking as if it could extend past the confines of his face.

"I am a ninja, father." Shinachiku blushes as he calls Naruto 'father'.

"_'Father'!?_ Hey, kid, we're gonna be spending a whole lotta time together from here on out, so you might as well just call me 'dad'."

The excitement and pride began to pile up inside of Naruto's heart. A child with his first love fulfilled many of his adolescent wishes and dreams.

Unfortunately, one thing commonly known about the Seventh Hokage was the fact that when he gets a little too excited, he was famous for speaking before he really thought about what came out of his mouth.

"Man, I love this kid already! _If I had known about him earlier, I wouldn't have married Hinata!_"

This was one such instance.

He hadn't meant it to be so harsh and blunt. It was a joke, after all.

Or was it..?

"I… really hate you, dad."

A fourth voice cuts into the small family reunion and chills Naruto to his core.

There, at the entrance of the small room, stood Bolt.

-End of Chapter 11.

—Story by ODG

* * *

><p>17/15 I originally wrote this on tumblr, which will explain the short chapters, and multitude of chapters!

NaruSaku is reasonable and logical. NaruSaku lives...

UPDATE 1/10/15 OKAY! Important Rewrite of Chapter 11! I realized that I had forgotten that I previously planned for Sakura to really go to Suna not to actually terminate her pregnancy. She told Tsunade a lie (to get her off her back) and went to Suna to seek help from Gaara and set up a place for Shinachiku to go after she gave birth to him in Konoha (an extended absence would be highly suspicious). As a medic-nin, she values life no matter what state of mind she is in (my fault for rushing the chapter)!


	14. Chapter Twelve

Child Of The Leaf

Chapter Twelve

by operadeglace

(brace yourselves… this is fast and sad, like a hawk attacking a kitty… sorry…)

_"I… really hate you, Dad."_

Naruto's entire body felt as if it were being crushed under a boulder as the weight of his younger son's words pressed in on him.

"Bolt, what did you hear..?"

"Why should you care!? You don't care! You've _never_ cared!" The young boy spouts, tearing his arm away from his father's grasp.

"That's not true at all, son… please, let's talk about this— " Naruto chokes out.

"_OH_. NOW you want to talk to ME!?"

His points accusingly to Sakura and Shinachiku.

"You magically have another kid with your old girlfriend and_ NOW_ you have time to talk to me!? That doesn't make sense, Dad! You don't make any sense!" Tears were forming in his eyes as his face reddened with anger.

"No, no, I'm sorry, Bolt. What I said in there… I was just a little overexcited… you know me and my—"

"NO! _I DON'T KNOW YOU_."

Naruto was silenced by the pure anger that emanated from his progeny. His heart that had beat so full of happiness just minutes before was now being suffocated and gasping for air.

Bolt was absolutely right.

Even after all he himself had experienced as a child, the frustration, loneliness, and hate… he had managed to give his own son the gift of a similar fatherless childhood.

He was no better than a dead father after all…

—

Salada was quickly ushered past the Hokage and his son by her Aunt Ino, who acted like she wanted to give them some room, but really wanted to eavesdrop from a safe vicinity at Sakura's bedside.

"Heads up, Sakura. Hinata accidentally heard me talking about Shinachiku…"

Ino whispers to her bed lain friend as Salada looked at the blonde boy with green eyes whom she had caught a glimpse of earlier at her apartment.

_So, this is Shinachiku..?_

From the first time she saw him, she knew she was related to him in some sort of way. The resemblance to her mother was uncanny.

For an eleven year old, she was quite observant. So observant, in fact, that the young Uchiha prodigy had known for quite some time now that she had a long lost sibling.

It all started with a pink book.

This was no ordinary pink book. It had the power to make her mother cry no matter how many times she had read it.

She never caught sight of the book when her dad was home, only when he was gone for long periods of time. In his absence, the pink book would be open on her mother's desk, its pages wrinkled and stained from tears both old and fresh. It seemed as if she were trying to wash the words away with her sorrow.

The mysteries of the little pink tome were calling to her…

_One day, while her mother was cleaning the house, she slipped into her mother's study and excitedly started to read it._

_To her surprise, the contents were handwritten. Apparently, it was her mother's old journal from her ninja days. She started her reading at the first pages of the text, which she found to be a recording of her mother's adolescent life…_

_'I love Sasuke. Uchiha Sakura has a beautiful ring to it!'_

_The pages were clean and smooth in the beginning with hearts strewn about the paper in harried shapes and varied sizes._

_'I'm on his team! Team 7! He's so dreamy!'_

_As Salada continued, she realized that her mama was a little obsessed with her father when they were growing up…_

_'I wish it was just a two-man team with me and Sasuke. Naruto is so annoying.'_

_Salada adjusted her glasses and grinned evilly. Maybe she could get some dirt on Bolt's dad that she could use for a later time…_

_She skipped forward in the journal, the pages became grittier and dirtier in this section, as if carried and used on a journey._

_'Naruto saved my life today. Maybe he isn't such an annoyance after all.'_

_Salada cocked her head to the side, curious as to why there was so much mention of the newly appointed Hokage in her mother's diary when the beginning of it was littered with 'Uchiha Sakura loves Uchiha Sasuke forever'. She flipped another couple pages._

_'Sasuke is gone. I feel terrible I couldn't stop him. Naruto promised me that he would bring him back. I don't know what I would do without him—'_

_Flip. Flip. Flip._

_'Naruto scared me today. He turned into a strange creature and had no control over himself. I need to find a way to help him—'_

_Flip. Flip._

_'He saved me again. Saved all of us. He would gladly sacrifice his life for any one of his friends, but I will become stronger so he never has to make that choice— '_

_Flip._

_'The war is over. Sasuke is gone. And Naruto has saved me from myself—'_

_The pages were becoming wavy, the ink smudged and enlarged into circular, water damaged patterns. These were the pages that her mother must have read and reread countless times._

_'I think I am in love with Naruto—'_

_Salada's eyes widen in response._

_She had always wondered why she acted strangely around that guy…_

_'—don't deserve him—'_

_Salada made slow, thoughtful turnings of the pages at this point as she connected several important dots._

_'I am pregnant—'_

_'I named him Shinachiku. Never forget you have a son—'_

_'— hope he will be fine in Suna—'_

_'— one day, I hope to meet him—'_

_'I don't deserve such a beautiful gift—'_

_'— isolated myself with my lies—'_

_'— no one to turn to—'_

_The young kunoichi never outwardly showed many emotions; she was much like her father… however, reading her mother's most private thoughts made her pity her mother, whom she had considered the strongest, most stubborn woman in the village._

_She also felt betrayed._

_How could her mother not have told her about an event of such importance as this? An older brother is a HUGE deal, even if he had a different father…_

_In retaliation, she had given her mother the silver bracelet for her birthday, watching carefully to see her reaction._

_Surely enough, her gift startled the older woman, and as soon as she left the room, her mom had started to cry. Her sobbing mother immediately went to her desk and flung open her pink journal._

_Salada felt vindicated for a few moments as she watched her mother scribble a few words on the worn pages…_

_Sakura then went to answer the door, and while she was distracted, Salada slipped into her study, flipping open the pink book to see what was written._

_What she read chilled her to the bone._

_'I am a monster.'_

_'Nobody can help me.'_

_Then, she just felt like a terrible, spiteful person…_

Salada's eyes narrowed at Shinachiku, still unsure as to how she felt about his presence.

Her eyes then fell upon her mother who was looking ashamed and guilty, her emerald eyes downcast and full of tears.

In the young girl's mind echoed the words of the journal:

_'I am a monster.'_

_'Nobody can help me.'_

—

"You're a _scumbag_, Dad. The _worst_ kind of scumbag in the _universe_."

Naruto was so heart broken that his mouth moved to try to convey his love for his son, but no coherent sentences came out.

"Pl…ease… Bol…t… give me a chance t…o… explain…" He breathed out desperately, his emotions getting the best of him once more.

_"F*ck off, Dad."_ Bolt replies simply, stuffing his hands in his pockets and turning to leave.

Naruto steps forward and grabs Bolt's arms angrily, ready to reprimand him, but he was stopped by a pair of arms that wrapped protectively around the whiskered boy.

Hinata suddenly steps in between the two Uzumaki males, and stares blankly at Naruto with her clear eyes.

"You lied to me." She says simply to Naruto, the air being stolen once more from his lungs in realization of her words.

"Honey, I can explain everything… I-I didn't know anything before— "

"Don't touch _my_ son."

Hinata suddenly turned to look murderously at Sakura.

"And _you_… I thought you were my _friend_…"

With an agitated sneer, she growled and grabbed Bolt, pulling him behind her as she moved swiftly away from her flustered husband.

Naruto follows his angry wife out into the corridor, leaving the room silent.

—

This was the only time in his life that Shinachiku wished that he was back in Suna.

He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he did know that most of the problems and hurt were caused by him. He was saddened as he realized that if he stayed in Suna, no matter how miserable he would have been, these seemingly good people and their families would be living their lives free of the complications that his arrival in Konoha had brought.

"I'm so sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have come…"

The young sand-nin bows his head respectfully towards his birth mother and turns to leave.

"W-where are you going!?" Sakura says, her voice shaking with fear.

"I'm going back to Sunagakure. I don't belong here." Shina replies, checking the hallway to find that his father and his family were gone.

His mother's pale face sunk into her hands.

"I'm so sorry… everything is my fault…"

Before he could witness anymore heartbreak on his account, Shinachiku walks through the threshold of the door… and stops.

He looked down to see the little girl with the glasses hugging his midsection tightly.

"Don't go."

Shina's heart thumped in his chest and his body started to burn from the inside out as his little sister mustered all of the strength she had to keep him from disappearing from their sight.

—

Salada had to find some way to make him stay. She hugged his waist as tightly as she could to prevent him from leaving.

_'I am a monster.'_

The words from the journal haunted her.

_'I am a monster.'_

Sure, her mother embarrassed her most of the time with her loud mouth and crazy parenting antics, but she didn't deserve to think that she was a monster.

Salada believed that after all that her mother had been through, and was going through, the thing that she deserved most was to find peace.

The bespectacled girl was sure that if Shinachiku left, that wretched pink journal would open once more and be filled with horrible things. She didn't want those horrible things to drag her mom to a place where she could no longer be with her…

If she could somehow convince her new found elder brother to stay, she hoped that he could help heal her mother.

_Their_ mother.

"_Big brother_… Shinachiku-niisan… _please_… please stay in Konoha."

-The End of Chapter Twelve.

-Story by ODG

Please keep reading! I promise that everything will turn out okay... just stick with it. :)


	15. Side Story Three

Child Of The Leaf

Side Story

"Ryoukan"

by operadeglace

* * *

><p><em>Eight years ago, in Sunagakure…<em>

Ryoukan stood proudly behind his son as a green light emitted from his small hands. He watched the young boy closely, noting the particular way in which his brow furrowed into his expansive forehead as his hands hovered over a limp fish, centered in the middle of an opened scroll.

_He looks like his mother._

Shinachiku's nose wrinkled as he grunted, he his glowing hands shaking with exertion.

No seven-year-old he knew of possessed enough focus to harness chakra in the manner that he was witnessing…

_He is brilliant, like his mother…_

Ryoukan had to admit, if he were ten years younger, he would have been jealous of the boy who had managed to impregnate the stunning leaf-nin. Not only was she attractive, she was smart, and a powerful kunoichi. She was a true heroine, worthy of the praise that the end of the war had brought her.

_Haruno Sakura…_

Even the stony Kazekage seemed to take a liking to the girl, offering to raise her child under the village's care and protection. He would check on their small family of two every so often to see if their needs were met, and the child was happy.

Unfortunately, the great Gaara of the Sand's face would make the boy cry, so he was only allowed to visit in the night time when he was asleep.

_"Dad! Look, Dad! I did it!"_

Ryoukan turns and is astonished as he sees the fish flopping lively on the table.

"That's my boy! We should celebrate!" He sweeps the child into his arms and hoists him up to sit on his shoulders. "After we clean up, what is something special you want to eat for dinner?"

"Ramen!" Shina squeals, not missing a beat.

"Ramen? But, we always have ramen, Shinachiku!" Ryoukan groans. He never could understand his son's infatuation with the brothy, noodle dish.

"Because," Shinachiku pats his father's head. "Ramen is just the best, dad. It's a fact."

The tall, dark eyed man laughs heartily as he starts to tidy up the mess with his son happily chanting, "Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" on his father's broad shoulders.

—

Silently closing his son's door, Ryoukan slips out of the front entrance of his home and sits on the sandy steps. A red haired man steps out of the shadows and nods his head in greeting.

"How is the boy?"

The Kazekage always asked the same three questions. No more, no less. He was always to the point, never wasting a moment.

The older, seated man folds his arms over his chest.

"He's exceptional. Already healed a living organism today, and he's only seven-years-old. He will be a great ninja for our village, someday."

Gaara's face stays stony and expressionless as he continues his queries.

"How are you?"

"I'm alive."

There was one more question.

"Do you need anything?"

"I need something to take the memories away…" Ryoukan says, bitterly.

The red haired man stays silent, then turns swiftly to leave.

"Thank you for your cooperation." He says in parting as he fades into the shadow of night once more.

—

_"Give him to me…"_

_"Sabure… he's not…"_

_"GIVE ME MY SON!"_

_She was still bleeding. There was so much blood already. _

_He watched in horror as her face lost all its color, flushed tones replaced with those of ash and stone. The unmoving bundle still clutched in his wife's dead arms. _

_"SABURE!"_

_He felt the warm, wet blood turning cold against his skin._

"Dad Wake up!"

Shooting up in his bed, Ryoukan's hands immediately felt his face, finding the wetness to be tears, and thankfully not blood. His red eyes connected with worried emerald ones as his son's silhouette was highlighted by the light of the moon, filtering through his open window.

"Dad… are you hurt? You were yelling again."

Shinachiku jumped onto his father's bed, scrambling over his legs to settle in the space beside him. Ryoukan was still reeling from the nightmare of his deceased wife and son, his face hidden in his hands as his breathing became labored and heavy.

"Some of the neighbor boys make fun of my forehead." The little blonde boy says, matter-of-factually as he kicks the sheets. over him. "I feel bad a lot… do you feel as bad as I do, right now?"

Ryoukan's eyes widen as he listens to the innocent banter of his son. He felt his heart change gears and transform, hurt and loss warping into compassion and love.

"Dad just had a little nightmare." The man sits against the head board and puts his arms leisurely behind his head, speaking as casually as if he weren't in extreme mental anguish just a second ago. "So… people are mean to you because of your forehead?"

"Yeah…" Shinachiku rolls under the sheets to look at his dad. "They say a person with such a big forehead will make a lousy ninja because it can be seen from anywhere…" He says softly, his young eyes watering slightly.

"I hope you don't believe them, son." Ryoukan turns slightly to look at the boy, who shakes his head in response.

"Nah! How could I be a lousy ninja if I'm your son? You're… the best…" Shinachiku says suddenly very proud, yawning and closing his eyes as sleep overtakes him.

Ryoukan waited in the silence of the room, listening to the gentle breathing of his child. He began to cry once more, this time, with a heart full of gratitude.

_This boy… is my second chance._

_Sabure, you would have been proud to be his parent as well… _

—

"How is the boy?"

A few weeks later, Ryoukan greeted the Kazekage with a smile.

"He healed a cut on his own knee… he will be a great ninja for our village."

Gaara's face still holding his familiar stony and expressionless.

"How are you?"

The medic-nin laughs.

"Quite happy."

This earned a slight raise of a brow-less brow.

"Do you… need anything?"

Another laugh.

"No. Not anymore." Ryoukan says, grinning with pride and gratitude.

The red haired man nods in response.

"Good."

-End of Side Story.

—Story by ODG


	16. Chapter Thirteen

Child of the Leaf

Chapter Thirteen

by ODG

* * *

><p>Night had fallen over Konoha quickly, its inky tendrils clawing after the sunlight slipping beneath the horizon. With the darkness came a blanket of cold that was transported on the breeze that rustled through the concourses of leaves.<p>

_"Big brother… Shinachiku-niisan… please… please stay in Konoha."_

Shinachiku walked slowly so that his younger sister, who was nearly half his size, could keep up with his long strides. He would occasionally look down to his side to sneak a peek at her.

He was unsettled by the consistent, dour look on her bespectacled face, and the armor of silence that she wore, but other than that, he was ecstatic.

A little sister.

He had always, always wanted siblings.

_'She's soooooo adorable.'_

Unbeknownst to the sand-nin, he was making an odd, yet extremely giddy face. His lips were stretched wide against his teeth and his brows scrunched up over his moist, nearly sparkling eyes…

_'Adorable, little glasses. Adorable, little clothes. My adorable… baby sister!'_

She wasn't a baby, however, Shinachiku was already utterly in love with his new sister. He loved everything yet knew nothing about her.

Salada, on the other hand, was not impressed. The boy walking beside her was the epitome of all things that annoyed her in life. If it wasn't for the fact that she believed he was the key to helping her mother feel better about herself, she would have told him exactly what she hated about him, as she was accustomed to doing with a certain other blonde boy…

"Great… another _Bolt_..." She whispered under her breath, alerting Shinachiku, who excitedly turned to her with a wide, charming smile.

He even smiled like the annoying, whiskered idiot…

"Did you say something, _Salada-chan_?" Shina's voice rises in pitch, every word he said seemed to drip with a sugary sweetness. As soon as Salada heard the 'chan' added to her name, her left eye twitched.

The dark haired girl bites her tongue and smiles crookedly at him.

"No… I'm just so happy to be going home finally."

Shinachiku nods quickly in response, though he wasn't sure where his home was...

They had been in the nearly empty hospital for a couple hours waiting for the assistant to the head medic of the hospital to arrive and release Sakura. To everyone's surprise, once the medic-nin had arrived…

_"But, Donburi-sensei… you and I both know that I am fine…"_

_"Please, I have my orders. We need to run a few more tests on you after you've properly rested up. The Hokage said you have a hard time sleeping, so we have some medicine to help you—"_

_"Oh, so this is Naruto's doing?"_

_"Orders are orders, Uchiha-sensei. He wants us to keep you under strict surveillance here. You really frightened him…"_

_"Honestly… I don't know why he cares so much…"_

_Shina was then entrusted with taking his young sister home, as it was nearing midnight. He didn't want to leave his mother's side, but, Ino-san said that she would help to look after her until she was able to come home._

So much had happened in such a little time, he realized as the two of them walked the streets in the cold darkness.

In the span of three weeks his adoptive father died, he somehow gathered enough courage to make his childhood crush agree to become his girlfriend (who also attacked the Kazekage and his brother to help him), he abandoned the village where he was raised and traveled to the one in which he was born, found his birth parents, and managed to mess everything up in the process…

_'Typical "Shinachikushou"… always screwing things up.'_

His thoughts turned to the recent memories of his brother, the other blonde boy with the strange markings on his cheeks nearly identical to their father's.

Bolt was his name.

Before the younger boy left, he gave Shinachiku a look that was so seething with hatred that it burned a painful, throbbing hole into his heart.

_"H-how are you not c-cold?"_

Shinachiku was jerked out of his thoughts by the small, female voice resounding at his side.

"What do you mean?"

"A-aren't you from Sunagakure? Isn't it s-supposed to be h-hot?"

"It is hot during the day, but at night it's freezing."

He darts his eyes to the side to find his sister shivering as she folded her arms across her midsection.

"You're cold?"

"N-no." She replies shortly, obviously lying.

"If you jump on my back, it's warm."

"I am _NOT_ g-going to j-jump on your b-back!"

"Come on, sis! Do it!"

After rolling her eyes, Salada looks around cautiously to ensure that her embarrassment had no spectators, then she put one foot into Shina's open palm, hoisting herself up into the standard piggy back position.

_'He's right… his back is warm.'_

Salada wraps her arms firmly over his shoulders and around his neck, her cheek tiredly resting on her older brother's back.

He grins broadly as he leaps high onto the top of the tall buildings and starts to hop from the tiled roofs until they reach the Uchiha penthouse. By the time he opened the sliding door of the balcony, Salada was fast asleep. He didn't know which room was hers in the dimness of the apartment, so he figured that the large couch that sat in the living room was a good enough place to lay the girl down.

Shina took off his half cloak and covered her with it before plopping himself down on the opposite edge of the couch, succumbing to slumber with a peaceful smile on his face as he reclined against the back of the sofa.

_"Dad!"_

_Shinachiku shouted as he saw the cloaked figure of Ryoukan in the distance. He ran as fast as he could, but the figure retreated further and further into the dark distance._

_"No, Dad! Don't go!"_

_"Leave me, son. You have your real family, now." Was his father's sad, echoing reply as he stretched into the strange, empty landscape…_

_'Dad… I'm not leaving you! YOU left ME! Don't go! Don't go!'_

"Ungh!" Shina gasps as he wakes suddenly from his dream.

He held his beating, aching heart as he sat in the cold darkness. Tears threatened to fall from his cloudy eyes as he realized where he was.

He wasn't in his room.

His father wasn't alive.

And he was reminded, once more, that he was in a place which didn't seem to appreciate his very existence…

All those years of yearning to leave Suna, and now, he found himself missing everything about his childhood home.

The smell of incense and burning wood from the shrine next door, the feel of his soft, worn, quilted blanket, a gift from his grandmother when she was alive, and Ryoukan… he missed his adoptive father so much.

He wanted to go home again.

His hands went to the sides of the sofa to lift himself when he suddenly stilled all movement.

There was something warm on his lap… and it was _hugging him_.

Misty blue eyes looked down to see the outline of Salada, who was sleeping soundly on his seated legs.

_"-ttebaro! Are a ninja or not!? Your sister needs you, and you were ready to leave her behind! AGAIN!"_ His inner self chides him.

"That's RIGHT!" He yells confidently, his fist raised in determination, then he claps his hands over his mouth, stilling his movements once more. His eyes turn downward as he nervously checks to see if he had awoken his sleeping sibling. Luckily, for the young Sand-nin, Salada had always been a heavy sleeper, as evidenced by her continued snoring through his rather loud outburst.

A shaking hand tenderly pats his sister's head.

"I won't run away from you again, Salada-chan. I promise that I will always be there for you." He whispers softly, determination etched in his voice. "Your big brother will always protect you and our mom."

Salada shifts slightly in his lap as he pats her back as if lulling a tiny baby to sleep. He rests his arm over her in a protective hug, his head dipping forward as he fell asleep once more with dreams of singing leaves and warm sun instead of dark, empty landscapes of gloom.

—

A few minutes before…

_"Dad… dad…. dad…."_

_Salada was a heavy sleeper, but no one could ignore the racket that the convulsing teenager sitting next to her was making… she pulled herself tiredly onto her hands to inspect the boy. Her new brother._

_"No, Dad… don't…"_

_She figured he must have been talking about his other father, in Suna…_

_"I didn't leave you…"_

_'Is he scared that his Dad will be super pissed that his son has gone to find his real parents? My Dad surely would have been angry, I bet… if he was here…'_

_She was lucky if her father stuck around long enough to play a game of Shogi with her…_

_Salada felt a pang of jealousy towards her elder half-brother. He had two dads now, and he probably spent a lot of time with his Dad in Suna, from the way he was talking in his sleep about him. She definitely needed him for project 'Save Mom', but, he was probably a babied, pampered, spoiled, selfish, brat…_

_"You left… me… don't… go…"_

_Or, maybe not._

_The jealousy that reared within Salada turned instantly into sympathy._

_'His father… left him…?'_

_Squinting her eyes through her glasses, she was able to see his face contorted in pain and anguish as the lights from the street lamps outside cast beams of light to dimly illuminate the Uchiha living room. He was having a nightmare, and it looked and sounded terrible._

_"Don't go… don't go… dad…"_

_The young Uchiha progeny crawled over to Shinachiku and started to shake him gently. No matter how hard she tried to rouse him, his state began to worsen. He started to shake and sob in his sleep so much that it pierced her heart that had so recently been closed to him. She could hear the loneliness echoing in his words, mirroring her own._

_She had to do something._

_Moved with deep compassion, she flings her arms around his midsection and buries her head in his shirt in attempts to calm her brother (for she had done this many times also with her mother, who suffered from nearly nightly dreams that haunted her)._

_"Ungh!" She hears him gasp above her, now fully awake._

_Salada took the opportunity to showcase her fantastic acting skills by faking slumber with exaggerated snoring noises._

_Shinachiku paid no mind, apparently, as his breathing evened, and he tried to stand up, then froze in his seated position beneath her…_

_'Finally… but, now what. Hopefully, he'll go back to sleep.' The kunoichi in training thinks to herself as the room is held in an awkward silence as she waits for his next move. 'Please, go to sleep so I can lea-'_

_"You're RIGHT!"_

_His yell causes her heart to skip a beat. She didn't expect that._

_'Who was he talking to? He's so weird. Why'd my only brother have to be such a weirdo?'_

_Then she felt him pat her head warmly. She guiltily found herself liking the little attention she was getting._

_"I won't run away from you again, Salada-chan. I promise that I will always be there for you." "Your big brother will always protect you and our mom."_

_Salada shifts slightly in his lap as she processes his words, a warm feeling emanating from what she could only guess was her heart._

_As he begins to pat her back gently, his rhythmic movements successfully commenced in lulling her to sleep. Her father used to do that when she was younger. How did he know it always…_

_She was dozing before she could finish her last thought, smiling happily as she slept comfortably on her big brother's lap._

—

Ayaka was running all night.

She had the distinct feeling that Shinachiku needed her help, so she opted out of setting up camp that night to rest in order to reach him faster.

She loved the medic-nin of her team dearly (who was also now her kinda-sort-for-sure boyfriend), but, she knew him better than anyone living, and the kid was always getting into some kind of trouble. He undoubtedly needed her to save him, or so was the idea that she solidified in her mind.

The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, and its light revealed the cityscape of Konohagakure and its impressive Hokage Mountain the jutted out from underneath it, a magnificent sight that she had only seen in the text books at school.

Ayaka was so excited to see her final destination that she neglected to see a paper seal posted to a tree until it was too late.

_"Wha—?!"_

The sand kunoichi was caught in a flurry of giant explosions that ripped into the treeline of the forests surrounding the gates of Konoha, a trap that was set with the intention of leaving no survivors in its wake.

-The End of Chapter 13.

—Story by ODG

—

Okay, sorry for the wait on the second part! Things may sound redundant, but, the bond between Shinachiku and Salada is important for upcoming chapters. I may make corrections later, when time permits.

Also, my version of Shinachiku has moments where he doubts himself, and then moments where he is truly brave and noble, like all of us, he is changing, and inconsistent as he is trying to find his place in the world. :)

And, for all you Sasuke fans, don't mind Salada's views on her father. She's just a child, and she is smart, but she holds grudges that warp the truth many times…

Thank you to all who are kind and support me! I love you, truly!


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